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[Jane]

Nice. 

[Jane]

THREE!

[MichaelG]

RIP Tom Stoppard. Arcadia is one of my favorite plays ever. I made sure to see Leopoldstadt on Broadway. But there are so many plays of his I haven't seen yet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74xe49q7vlo

[MichaelG]

Does anybody here have any stories of people trying to get Stoppard to write a musical theater book or an opera libretto? Surely folks must have tried.

[Freddie]

TOD:

Li'l Abner
Poseidon Adventure
Where Angels Go Trouble Folows
How to Save Your Marriange and Ruin Your Life

and almost everything.

I liked especially in the last one I mentioned she is trying to get Dean Martin to notice her. They get in an elevator together....and she says: "Do you have the time?"

And Dean says: "I don't have a watch."

And she looks at her watch and says: "It's four thirty."  The face she makes when she realizes what she's done and her rush from the elevator on the next floor are very funny.

LOL!

[Jane]

TOD:

How to Save Your Marriange and Ruin Your Life

I watched the trailer on IMDB and that scene was in it

I forgot how wonderful Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson were.

[Freddie]

We now have even a couple of more houses decorated for the season....it's fun to look out the front and back doors when it gets dark to see what else has been added.

Sounds wonderful!

[Jane]

RIP Tom Stoppard. Arcadia is one of my favorite plays ever. I made sure to see Leopoldstadt on Broadway. But there are so many plays of his I haven't seen yet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74xe49q7vlo

[Freddie]

RIP Tom Stoppard. Arcadia is one of my favorite plays ever. I made sure to see Leopoldstadt on Broadway. But there are so many plays of his I haven't seen yet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74xe49q7vlo

[Jane]

I always enjoyed Stella Stevens.  I like her best in The Nutty Professor.

[Jrand75]

There was a play I saw at a Festival in Ireland that I think was by Tom Stoppard about a man who auditioned for a community theatre production of The Three Penny Opera. He was cast in the chorus and eventually ended up playing the lead.

But I can't find a play with that description in the list of his plays. It must be someone else. But it was hilarious.

My favorite part was during a rehearsal the director would get to a certain part in the blocking and then the piano player would start to play. Each time the director would say: "Not yet we're moving on."

He did this about six times. Then the seventh time he got to a song cue and he said "Music, please....." the piano player had gone to the bathroom.....LOL

[MichaelG]

I tried searching for the play DR Jrand75 describes but had no luck. However, I did find this announcement of a new Threepenny adaptation. Now that the German version is in the public domain in the USA, folks can do their own English translation/adaptation however they want, as we can see here.

https://playbill.com/article/katrina-lenk-and-george-abud-to-star-in-new-adaptation-of-threepenny-opera

[Freddie]

I tried searching for the play DR Jrand75 describes but had no luck. However, I did find this announcement of a new Threepenny adaptation. Now that the German version is in the public domain in the USA, folks can do their own English translation/adaptation however they want, as we can see here.

https://playbill.com/article/katrina-lenk-and-george-abud-to-star-in-new-adaptation-of-threepenny-opera

I wonder if that would mean the song "Mack the Knife" is in the public domain.

[MichaelG]

I wonder if that would mean the song "Mack the Knife" is in the public domain.

Not the English lyrics by Blitzstein or other later translations. But if you make your own translation, no problem!

[MichaelG]

But songs have compulsory licenses for recording, so it's not such a big deal like grand rights for a stage production.

[Freddie]

I wonder if that would mean the song "Mack the Knife" is in the public domain.

Not the English lyrics by Blitzstein or other later translations. But if you make your own translation, no problem!

Do you think (from what you might know of such things) the music for "Mack the Knife" might be public domain?

[elmore3003]

Does anybody here have any stories of people trying to get Stoppard to write a musical theater book or an opera libretto? Surely folks must have tried.

He did an English version of The Love for Three Oranges.

[elmore3003]

I wonder if that would mean the song "Mack the Knife" is in the public domain.

Not the English lyrics by Blitzstein or other later translations. But if you make your own translation, no problem!

Do you think (from what you might know of such things) the music for "Mack the Knife" might be public domain?

iNot if the Kurt Weill Foundation has anything to do with it! Lenya may have copyrighted the score in 1954 with the Bltzstein version. She may have had some clout since, if I recall correctly, there was Brecht-Weill litigation over the poor percentage Brecht gave Weill.

[Freddie]

I wonder if that would mean the song "Mack the Knife" is in the public domain.

Not the English lyrics by Blitzstein or other later translations. But if you make your own translation, no problem!

Do you think (from what you might know of such things) the music for "Mack the Knife" might be public domain?

iNot if the Kurt Weill Foundation has anything to do with it! Lenya may have copyrighted the score in 1954 with the Bltzstein version. She may have had some clout since, if I recall correctly, there was Brecht-Weill litigation over the poor percentage Brecht gave Weill.

Interesting!  Thanks for that information, Larry.

[MichaelG]

The foundation addressed this in one of their newsletters. The German piano-vocal score and libretto entered the USA public domain on January 1, 2024. But that does not include the orchestrations, English translations, post-1928 additions, etc.

https://www.kwf.org/wp-content/uploads/kwn_412_p1-13.pdf#page=3

[MichaelG]

Hence the new book, lyrics and orchestrations in the upcoming Off-Brand Opera production.

[Freddie]

Thanks, MichaelG!

[Freddie]

I'm trying to get an audio-CD-length or show-length group of parodies where I don't need to RELY on "Parody" classification never being challenged by the original writers.  The best approach to accomplish this looks like having all the tracks be with public domain music or original music.

[George]

George- Really enjoyed the day and night photos of the Christmas lights in last night's posts!

Thanks, Freddie!  Glad you liked them.

[George]

I'm done with the first concessions shift. The second act started and I'm now at the downtown Meconi's Subs.  I'll eat, then head back to the Center for the second performance for which I'm concessioning.

[George]

John G - Thanks for posting that link that included Barbara Cook and George Hearn. 

That was quite a different interpretation by Barbara Cook, at least from all the many times I've seen her.

Yes, but was she ever enjoying herself.

Absolutely!

[George]

This has been a morning of frustrations and I am not happy about it.

Oh no!   Sending vibes that all ends up OK!

~~~Ditto!!~~~

[George]

This morning has been one frustration to another: legs that barely work, computer issues this morning that made me reboot it twice, iTunes issues still hanging over from the mess months ago, and I just picked up the mail to learn that I, who can barely stand and move, am not eligible for home healthcare because I'm not decrepit enough.

I should just die.

Oh, no.

[George]

I like Stella Stevens a lot - but I don't know if I'm interested enough to watch an entire documentary about her.

One of the earliest times I saw one of her movies was when I (and maybe my sister?) watched the movie Arnold late night TV when I was probably much too young to watch it.

[George]

Laundry is happening. And that is a glorious sound. We used a laundromat a few times but you wouldn't believe the piles of laundry that were still here. Little by little it's getting done.

I need to do some laundry, too...I've procrastinated about it for far too long.